A Story To Tell
by TheWiserOne
Summary: Kara Parker, your regular independent woman; she goes to Mystic Falls, meets Damon Salvatore, and her story continues, just a bit differently than she expected.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

Alright heads up…my first story.

So, it's going to be revolving around my OC: Kara Parker. And yes, it is a Damon/OC one.

I'm going to first start with the original plot, as we move on the story might change.

* * *

 **Kara's Description**

Kara Parker

-22 years old

-Brunette

-Short hair (till her neck)

-Height- about 5'2

-Is a journalist in New York

-A very independent woman

Well, there is more, read and find out.

* * *

 **Prologue**

Third Person's POV

As the sun was setting down in Mystic Falls, a new face was arriving. Kara Parker, 22, had decided to go to Mystic Falls, Virginia to research the town's history, which apparently, as she had heard, it was rich in.

A friend of hers owned a house here, and was planning on selling it since she wasn't interested in keeping it. As the conversation rose up, Kara was intrigued by the small town and its story. That was it, that was the moment Kara decided to just buy the house and go to the town for a while, at least that's what it looked like to the people.

Well she did have her reasons, she was very tired of the city and wanted to escape, so a change in scenery didn't seem like a bad idea, and Mystic Falls seemed like a perfect escape. Her boss didn't mind either, as long as she uploaded her articles from there.

So here she was, driving.

Road trips were _exhausting_ , because well you know, it's _2220 miles_. Thank goodness she was almost there.

As she passed the 'Welcome To Mystic Falls' sign, she knew it was going to be another story in her book, but what she _didn't_ know was that it was gonna be a story to tell.


	2. Pilot

**1\. Pilot**

* * *

Third Person's POV

As Kara entered the town, she drove straight to the house she was going to reside in. She already ate a while ago, so food wasn't a problem.

As she approached the house, she decided she made a pretty good deal. The house was in good shape, and it seemed like it was in a good neighborhood, so _that money_ wasn't gonna hurt.

She parked her car and entered the house and it was safe to say that she was impressed. The house looked pretty neat and no mess was there to clean up.

"Well, looks like one job less to do," she sighed.

The house was a double story one, with living room, kitchen and a bathroom on the ground floor, and 2 bedrooms upstairs.

' _Better get my suitcase_ ,' she thought and went to her car to get her belongings.

Just as she was locking her car _,_ her phone rang.

 _Sydney_ her caller id showed, it was the friend who owned the house before her.

"Hello," she said placing her phone on ear and dragging her suitcase behind.

" _Kara, hi! So are you there yet?_ " Sydney asked.

"Yup just arrived. Thank you so much for getting the place cleaned up Syd, I owe you." Kara said as she dragged her suitcase inside.

" _Oh it wasn't anything. Thought you might appreciate it_."

"Uh huh."

" _So how are you liking it so far? Met anybody?_ "

"Sydney," Kara laughed, flopping on the couch, "I literally just arrived."

" _Oh come on, that's just an excuse_."

Kara laughed and then a yawn escaped her, "Hey, I'm really tired, that road trip really exhausted me, mind if I call you later?"

" _Oh alright, but don't think you are escaping this conversation._ "

"On second thought, how about I talk to you when I come back to New York?"

" _Ha ha,_ " the girl on the other side deadpanned.

"G'night Syd," Kara said walking into her bedroom.

" _Night Kara._ "

When the call ended, Kara went into the bathroom adjoining the bedroom, changed into a comfortable t-shirt and pajamas and went to sleep.

* * *

 _Next Day_

Morning found Kara sleeping in her bed, when suddenly she jolted awake.

Another nightmare.

You see, since the last 7-8 months Kara has been having nightmares, not regularly, but shifting to a new place might have triggered something.

After seeing the time, 10 a.m., she decided there was no point in sleeping anymore and groggily got up.

After showering, she grabbed a grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans and went to the kitchen hoping that Sydney might have remembered to stock up the fridge.

"So much for hoping," she muttered to herself after finding the fridge empty.

' _Better get grocery shopping done today,'_ she thought, ' _but breakfast first._ '

Getting her sneakers, and leaving her hair just the way it was, like anything could be done to them, she locked her door and getting in her car, she went to the nearest restaurant/cafe, _The Grill_ , and ordered herself a sandwich and a coke.

* * *

After finishing her breakfast Kara decided to go to the local super market and get her shopping done.

She was strolling through the aisles in the market pushing her cart and looking at the chocolates and picking the ones she liked.

Suddenly she was jolted to a stop as her cart bumped into another one.

"Oh I'm so sorry," the other person apologized. It was a woman, in her mid twenties, blonde, taller than her.

"Oh no it's alright." Kara assured her after regaining her balance after the hit.

"I'm Jenna, by the way, Jenna Sommers," the woman said introducing herself.

"Kara Parker, it's nice to meet you." Kara said waving, almost awkwardly, at her.

"I'm guessing you're new here," Jenna said as she started pushing her cart alongside Kara.

"Oh yeah I'm new. Here for a kind of a vacation," Kara confirmed.

"That's nice. Vacation is good," Jenna said, although it did sound like she was talking more to herself.

They continued going to various aisles,talking, Jenna picking stuff for herself, Kara picking stuff for herself, you know how shopping goes.

Getting a better look at her, Kara realized that Jenna looked somewhat tired.

They talked more, and Kara realized, chuckling slightly, that she made a friend in one of the most unexpected places, the grocery store.

* * *

After purchasing the grocery and they headed to the parking lot.

"It was really nice talking to you Jenna," Kara said with a smile on her face.

She found it hard to talk to people, which resulted in people assuming that she was rude sometimes, so she was more than happy that Jenna and her were separating on a friendly note.

"Same goes for you," Jenna returned happily, "oh I know, why don't you come for dinner tonight? You can meet Jeremy and Elena too."

"I don't know. I'm still tired and I _really_ don't want to dress up." Kara thought out loud.

"It will be fun." Jenna assured laughing, "and you don't have to dress up," she assured.

"Well I hope you cook something nice then," Kara said accepting her invitation.

"I'll see you at 7!" Jenna exclaimed walking back to her car.

Kara laughed and went to her own car, stocking her things up and going home.

* * *

Even though she said she wasn't going to dress up, that didn't mean that she was going to Jenna's house looking like that.

She was all sweaty. Well you see, when Kara got back the clock read 2 pm, so there was a lot of time for her to waste.

Therefore she decided to waste that time by arranging her bedroom according to her own comfort.

Hence the sweat.

But on other note, the room did look good and quite Kara-y.

The bed was positioned in the center. The closet in one corner, the curtains' colors were changed to white and light blue.

And one wall was covered in quotations, pictures and her drawings, yes, Kara drew, but only sometimes.

It was almost 6 when she was done with arranging the room, she decided to take a shower.

Like she said, she was not going to dress up, so she wore what she usually wore, a pair of jeans and a hoodies, a navy blue one.

She put on her sneakers and thought of getting a cake on her way.

* * *

After getting the cake, as she was driving her car, Kara thought about what Jenna had told her, well you see, Jenna had an older sister, who, to put it in simple words, died a while ago, along with her husband; she had 2 kids, Elena and Jeremy, and after her and her husband's death, Jenna was appointed as their guardian and was now living with them in the Gilbert's house.

The way that Jenna talked about the kids made Kara realize that she adored them very much and was happy taking care of them, but it was going to get some time getting used to it.

Kara reached the address that Jenna had later texted her.

She knocked on the door, balancing the chocolate cake in one hand.

The door opened to reveal a teenager, with long and straight brown hair, _also_ taller than her, _'I feel like everybody here is taller than me,'_ Kara internally grumbled.

"Hi, you must be Kara, I'm Elena," the teenager introduced herself inviting her in.

"It's nice to meet you." Kara replied as she entered the house. The house had sort of a warm aura, she liked it.

"Jenna is in the kitchen," Elena said directing her towards the kitchen and sh herself went to the living room.

"Hey," Kara said when she saw Jenna as she entered the kitchen.

"Hi, hope you don't mind but it's just gonna be us and Jeremy for dinner. Elena is going to the Grill to meet some of her friends." Jenna said.

"Oh no it's all right." Kara said, "do you need some help with the food?"

"Oh no the food's almost done. But you can help arrange the table," Jenna suggested.

"Sure thing," was what Kara said and she started arranging the plates on the table.

* * *

As Elena was leaving to head to the Grill, Jenna gave her the responsible adult speech and rules like telling her to come home on time since it was a school night, Kara found it amusing as Jenna was trying so hard to act all responsible.

While laughing at her friend's antics, Kara suddenly realized that she left her phone in the car and told Jenna and Elena that she was going to get it.

As she opened the door to step out, she was just in time to stop herself from crashing into another body standing at the doorstep,

"I'm so sorry," Kara apologized moving slightly back.

"Oh no it's alright," The stranger, who looked like he was about the same age as Elena, said making sure she didn't lose her balance. "Uh, is Elena here?" he asked standing back a little.

"Oh yes she is. Elena someone's here for you,"she shouted tilting her face towards the living room.

"Coming," came Elena's response.

"Excuse me," Kara said facing the stranger again, signaling that she was going out of the door.

"Oh yeah, sorry," the kid said smiling sheepishly and stepping aside.

As she went towards her her car, she heard Elena come and talk to the _kid_. It felt weird calling him a kid, she didn't know why, it just did.

She took her phone and saw that she had a mail from work,so she sat in her car and replied to it and then went back to the house.

As she entered the warm house again, she saw Elena asking the boy to come to the Grill with her, and him agreeing.

"Oh hey Kara, this is Stefan, a friend of mine, and Stefan this is Kara, she's new to the town." Elena said noticing her and introducing the two of them.

"Oh hi," Stefan smiled extending his hand for a polite handshake.

"Hi," Kara returned the smile and handshake, _'that is a strong hold for a 17 year old,'_ she thought shaking his hand.

"We should get going before Caroline and Bonnie start calling us," Elena said heading to the door.

"It was nice meeting you Kara," Stefan said to her.

"You too kid," Kara smiled at him.

Stefan smiled and his eyes twinkled, it looked like there was something funny in what she said, something that even she herself didn't know and then went to join Elena.

Before she could say or think anything else, she heard Jenna yell for Jeremy telling him that dinner was ready.

A boy, around 14 or 15 year old, came down the stairs, it was Jeremy she soon realized.

As he came down, he slowed down seeming to realize that there was another person in the house except for him and Jenna.

"Uh, who are you?" Jeremy asked looking like a _really_ confused kid.

Kara couldn't help but chuckle at his expression, "hey, I'm Kara, Jenna's friend," she said introducing herself.

"Oh," Jeremy said realizing who she was.

"The food's ready kiddo," Kara said smiling at him nodding her head towards the kitchen.

He made a face at being called a 'kiddo' but she could see a ghost of a smile on his face. Even she didn't know what made her call him that, but she felt like she was talking to her own little brother, _the one she didn't have,_ but she would have talked to him that only she realized.

The food was finished soon, and Jenna, she realized, was quite a good cook.

This was turning out to be a fun night.

After finishing the dessert, the cake that she brought, she decided to call it a night.

After saying her goodbye to Jenna and ruffling Jeremy's hair, _again an action she didn't know from where it came_ , and with a promise to have dinner night again, she went out the front door.

Elena and Stefan were saying their goodbyes on the front porch.

"Going so soon?" Elena questioned seeing her leaving the house.

"Yeah, I need to get going, need to get up early tomorrow." Kara told her smiling and walking towards them.

"Yeah I know how that feels," Elena said laughing.

"Well I should get going too," Stefan said starting to walk backwards.

"Wait, are you going to _walk_ back to your house?" Kara questioned raising her eyebrows.

"Uh yeah," Stefan said looking like it wasn't a big deal.

"Uh no kid. Even _I_ know you're not supposed to walk on empty streets in the dark." Kara wasn't going to let him walk back to his house.

"You know, Kara is right, I mean you know about all those animal attacks and everything, I can give you a ride back home if you like," Elena said stepping towards him.

"No, it's fine Elena. I can't let you drive back alone in the dark." Now it looked like _Stefan_ wasn't going to let _Elena_ drive back alone in the dark.

 _'Ugh these kids.'_ Kara was half amused half irritated by those two.

"You know what, I'll drive him. Nobody needs to worry about anybody." Kara said stepping in between the conversation.

"No there really isn't any problem," Stefan said turning to her trying to convince her now.

"Shut up kid," Kara said without any malice in her voice,"it's dark, you're going home, I'm going home, I have a car, I'll drop you, it's no trouble."

"She's right Stefan," Elena said looking at him.

"Fine," Stefan sighed.

"Good for you or I would have dragged you back to the car, and trust me it doesn't look like it would have been an easy job," Kara deadpanned. Elena and Stefan chuckled.

* * *

She followed Stefan's directions and saw a _huge_ mansion not far away.

"That's a nice house," she commented as she pulled over.

"Yeah it's my uncle's," Stefan said removing his seat belt, "thank you for the ride. Uh, do you know how to get back?"

"Don't worry kid, my house isn't that far, _and_ I have a GPS too," she assured him chuckling.

"Alright then. It was nice to see you again Kara." Stefan said softly opening the door and getting out.

"Right back at ya kid," Kara said giving him a small grin and driving off.

* * *

It had been a few days since Kara came to Mystic Falls. She was comfortable in here, was getting her job done without any problem, talked to Sydney every once in a while, because you know, _she_ was the one on vacation, not Sydney, and a story had caught her attention.

There were recent animal attacks happening in the town, she knew about _that,_ but what she didn't know was that the same sort of incidents had happened years ago too, but they stopped and now were happening _again._

That got her interest. She even asked Jenna about it but couldn't get much.

Then she got to know about a girl Vicki, apparently an animal had attacked her, but she survived and was now in the hospital.

Kara decided to go to the hospital and see if the girl could tell her anything.

* * *

As she reached Vicki's room, (she asked the receptionist), she saw a familiar figure standing in the doorway.

"Jeremy?"

Jeremy jumped a bit and turned around to see Kara standing in the doorway.

"What are you doing here kiddo? Shouldn't you be at school?" Kara asked stepping forward.

"I came to check up on her," Jeremy said softly while looking at the sleeping figure on the hospital bed.

Kara realized that Vicki wasn't 'just a girl' to Jeremy.

"How is she?" She asked her eyes softening.

"Still sleeping," was his mumbled response.

"Do you want me to take you to home?" Kara asked putting a hand on his arm, after all Vicki didn't look like she was going to wake up soon, and Jeremy looked like he needed someone.

"Alright," he said after a while of contemplation.

* * *

After settling in her car, she turned to Jeremy, "do you want something to eat? We could stop by at the Grill or something."

"No, it's alright, let's just go home."

"If you say so kiddo," whispered Kara.

The drive to the Gilbert's house was silent, Jeremy was quiet, and Kara let him be.

As Jeremy was removing his seat belt, Kara spoke, "you know, if you ever want to go see her again you don't have to go alone, you could always ask Jenna or Elena or me."

Jeremy turned to look at her, "I know," he said softly.

"And you don't have to turn to drugs for everything bad happening to you either kiddo." _Y_ _up, she knew about the drug problem, it wasn't that hard to tell either, she just didn't think it was her place to say anything to him, but a day or two earlier she met Jenna, she looked so tired and defeated about him that Kara had to do something, because, you know, Jenna was her first friend in this town and she had a very few of them and was very loyal to them._

Without saying anything he got out of the car and went inside the house.

She sighed and started the engine.

 _'I'll just see Vicki tomorrow I_ guess,' was her last thought before she drove away.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Alright that's what happened to Kara in the Pilot episode.

This was fun. I'll be bringing in Damon real soon.

Until then,

bye people!


End file.
